Dielectric filled nanostructured silica substrate for flat optical devices

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed. The method includes etching at least one trench in a substrate, placing a dielectric material in at least one trench in the substrate and encapsulating the top of the substrate with a film.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of, and claims benefit from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/395,005, filed Apr. 25, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Application Ser. No. 16/395,005 claims benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 201941007558, filed on Feb. 27, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to optical devices. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure relate to a dielectric filled nanostructured silica substrate for flat optical devices.

Description of the Related Art

For flat optical devices, dielectric films are structured with features that are smaller than the wavelength of operation. For visible and near IR spectrum, for example, the smallest features of nanostructures often become as small as 30 nanometers which is beyond most of the lithography methods available for large scale device fabrication.

Flat optical devices are often subjected to harsh conditions during service. Conventional flat optical designs have structures that limit their use as the designs may not be rugged enough for service conditions. There is a need to provide a flat optical device that can withstand increasingly harsh service conditions.

Another drawback to conventional methods of manufacture and apparatus is that conventional methods of manufacture are limited in the size of features produced as the lithography methods available are limited.

There is a need to provide a method and apparatus for producing flat optical devices that are fit for their intended purposes.

There is a further need to provide a method for producing flat optical devices that is economical for large scale fabrication.

There is a further need to provide a method for producing flat optical devices that may incorporate nanostructures that are of a small scale.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the summary are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to limit the scope of the claims or the disclosure.

In one non-limiting embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed, comprising providing a substrate, etching at least one nanotrench in the substrate, placing a dielectric material in the at least one nanotrench in the substrate and encapsulating a top of the substrate with a film.

In another example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed comprising: providing a substrate, depositing a material on to a first face of the substrate, etching at least one nanotrench in the material deposited on the first face of the substrate and encapsulating a top of the material deposited on the first face of the substrate with an encapsulating material.

In another example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed comprising: providing a substrate, depositing a material on to a first face of the substrate, etching at least one trench in the material deposited on the first face of the substrate, and encapsulating a top of the material deposited on the first face of the substrate with an encapsulating material.

In another example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed comprising: providing a silicon dioxide substrate with at least one flat surface;

etching at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate; placing a dielectric material in the at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate and encapsulating the placed dielectric material in the at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate with a film.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only exemplary embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, and may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C disclose a top view, side view and perspective view of dielectric nanotrenches in one non-limiting example embodiment of the aspects described.

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C disclose a top view, side view and perspective view of dielectric nanopillars with an encapsulant and substrate.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C disclose a proposed ideal method of etching, filling and encapsulating an arrangement in one non-limiting example embodiment of the aspects described.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are actual results of the ideal method of etching filling and encapsulating the arrangement of FIG. 3 .

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C illustrate a process flow for nanotrench creation, filling and processing in accordance with another non-limiting example embodiment of an aspect described.

FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C illustrate a second process flow for nanotrench creation, filling and processing in accordance with another non-limiting example embodiment of an aspect described.

FIG. 7 is a graph of phase change of pillar and trench arrangement diameters in a dielectric film verses diameter measurement for positive and negative circle and square configurations.

FIG. 8 is a graph of amplitude of pillar and trench arrangement diameters in a dielectric film verses diameter measurement for positive and negative circle and square configurations.

FIG. 9 is a graph of phase change vs. film thickness.

FIG. 10 is a chart of nanopillar height and minimum and maximum dimensions and spacings for pillar design.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements and features of one embodiment may be beneficially incorporated in other embodiments without further recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the example embodiments described below, arrangements and methods are disclosed to provide for production for flat optical devices. In embodiments described, different methods and materials are used, compared to conventional methods and materials to produce the flat optical devices. The methods and apparatus provided allow for superior manufacturing of flat optical devices that are more fit compared to their conventionally made counterparts. Aspects of the apparatus provide for use of different materials, such as silicon dioxide (SiO₂) that has a low refractive index (RI) and k value. Other components of the apparatus use titanium dioxide (TiO₂) that has a higher refractive index and low k value. The functional materials may be referred to as a “dielectric” which has a high refractive index (RI) and low k and different than the substrate, inter-structure spaces and encapsulants. In the embodiments illustrated and described, the terms trenches and pillars are used. The lateral dimensions of the trenches and pillars are on the order of half of a wavelength of operation.

In embodiments, instead of using pillars, aspects of the disclosure seek to use trenches in dielectric materials to achieve a similar result. In manufacturing, some embodiments are more cost effective to establish using trenching technologies than to establish using pillars.

To increase the durability of the entire design, some arrangements are subjected to placement of an encapsulant. The encapsulant may cover one section of an arrangement and provide for not only the dielectric properties required, but also wear capabilities to make the resulting configurations more fit for intended purposes.

In some non-limiting aspects, silicon dioxide materials are used as device encapsulants, producing faster, cheaper and overall superior operating devices. In embodiments, a structured silicon dioxide film is used in conjunction with a silicon dioxide substrate that has desired nanostructures. The nanostructures may be pillars or holes and have different cross sections, such as square, circle, ellipse or arbitrary shape. A lattice may also be configured with square, hexagonal or arbitrary positions. Gaps in the created nanostructures may be filled, as desired. The gaps may be filled with spin-on dielectric materials (titanium dioxide, SiN, ZnO, etc.) or materials that may be used with chemical vapor deposition that are flowable.

In alternative nanostructure design, holes or trenches may be placed in a dielectric film compared to established dielectric nanopillars. In one non-limiting embodiment, flat optical devices may be made, starting with a silica substrate and then depositing a dielectric thin film over the structured silica substrate and any gap filling materials. In embodiments, the gaps in the arrangements created are filled and then encapsulated. In one example embodiment, a silica substrate is created such that the silica substrate is structured with a profile. This profile is then filled by using a spin-on dielectric in order to easily and cost effectively fill in the structured substrate to build nanostructures. In embodiments, trenches (holes) in a dielectric film may occur, in place of pillars, delivering comparable optical performance to pillar construction embodiments.

In the embodiments disclosed, making trenches on a dielectric film or in a substrate is a superior process compared to conventional methods of making isolated pillars on a dielectric film. Nanotrenches may be used with a structured silica method or a method of depositing a dielectric film on a planar silica substrate and nanostructuring the result.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a top view of a dielectric nanotrench is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, the values d and g are such that these values are less than one measured wavelength. In the top view of the dielectric nanotrench, the structure measured by value g is a TiO₂ as a non-limiting embodiment. A high RI value may be used with a low absorption dielectric (e.g., TiO₂, GaP, aSi, cSi, SiN, etc.) for value g. The structure designated by distance d is SiO₂ which has a low RI and is a low absorption dielectric. The height of the trench created “h”, in FIG. 1B, may be variable as the distance between the substrate 100 and the encapsulant 102 may vary. A perspective view, 1C, is presented indicating the layers of SiO₂ and TiO₂. For further clarification, the titanium dioxide TiO₂ is formed in a hashtag or pound shape (i.e., “#”) with silicon dioxide forming the remainder of the substrate, encapsulant and the spaces between the constituent flanges of the shape.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a top view of a dielectric nanopillar arrangement is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, the values d and g are such that these values are less than one measured wavelength. In the top view of the dielectric nanopillar, the structure measured by value g is a SiO₂ as a non-limiting embodiment. The value of d measures a part of the nanopillar structure that is made of TiO₂. A high RI value may be used with a low absorption dielectric for example (TiO₂, GaP, aSi, cSi, SiN, etc.). The height of the trench created “h” may be variable as the distance between the substrate 200 and the encapsulant 202 may vary. A perspective view, 2C, is presented indicating the layers of SiO₂ and TiO₂.

Referring to FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, a process flow is illustrated for a nanopillar or nanotrench design. In FIG. 3A, a substrate 300 is provided where etched pillars/trenches 302 are provided. In FIG. 3B, a spin on high RI, low k dielectric is used to fill the pillars/trenches 302. Progressing further in time, in FIG. 3C, the arrangement from FIG. 3B is encapsulated with SiO₂ indicating the ideal configuration.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the as-constructed arrangement resulting from FIG. 3 is presented. While FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, illustrate the ideal construction resulting from the methodology described, FIGS. 4A and 4B present that the filling of the trenches, in FIG. 3B, actually occur such that the trenches are filled over the top, with a top layer of overfilled dielectric layer 400 present. Then, the encapsulate 402 is placed over the dielectric layer 400 to construct the final arrangement.

Referring to FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, a second process flow is illustrated in another embodiment. In FIG. 5A, SiO₂ pillars are etched on a SiO₂ substrate. In FIG. 5B, the nanotrenches etched in the SiO₂ are filled with spin-on high n, low k dielectric material. In FIG. 5C, the resulting arrangement from 5B are encapsulated with a low RI, low k material.

Referring to FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C, an alternate process flow to that described in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C is illustrated. In FIG. 6A, a SiO₂ substrate 600 is provided and a high RI, low k dielectric 602 is placed on the substrate 600 surface, such as SiO₂. In FIG. 6B, nanotrenches 604 are placed in the high RI, low k dielectric layer 602. Proceeding to FIG. 6C, the trenches are filled with a low RI, low k material to provide a completed arrangement.

As the “as constructed” embodiments may differ from ideal designs, different variations of the embodiments described above were tested for compliance to ensure that such “as constructed” embodiments satisfy design goals. As the illustrated embodiments use trenches rather than pillar arrangements, a test was conducted to determine if the two types of arrangements (pillars and trenches) provide similar results in testing.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a graph of phase change vs. diameter is illustrated. In the illustrated graph solid circle designate a pillar with circular cross section. A hollow circle provides a trench with circular cross section. A solid square designates a pillar with square cross section. A hollow square designates a trench with square cross-section. In the illustrated graph, the transmission phase of both the circular and square pillars start from a value of 0 and increase to 1 over the life of the graph. In the trench configurations, the values of transmission phase start from 1 and decrease to 0 over the life of the graph. Thus, as can be seen from FIG. 8 , phase change does occur for both positive and negative configurations. As the lateral dimensions of the nanopillar(trench) is varied monotonically, in one embodiment, is important to access all possible values of transmission phase (normalized) between 0 and 1. Simultaneously, the transmission amplitude should remain as close to 1 as possible, i.e., maximal, irrespective of the change in the sizes of the nanostructures.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a graph of amplitude vs diameter is illustrated. In the illustrated graph solid circle designate a positive circle configuration. A hollow circle provides a negative circle configuration. A solid square designates a positive square configuration. A hollow square designates a negative square configuration. As presented in FIG. 8 , the positive circle and positive square configurations have an approximate value of 1 up till value 180 nm and then slowly decrease. The negative circle and negative square values have slightly lower amplitude of approximately 0.7 and then increasing to approximately a value of 1 for the remainder of the diameter values. In the embodiments shown, pillars transmit larger amplitudes than trenches.

Referring to FIG. 9 , a graph of phase change vs square side dimension is illustrated. For both square pillar configurations, as the side measurement increases, the phase change increases. As illustrated, the taller the pillars for a specific configuration may be, the larger will be the minimum (closest) gap between two adjacent pillars. For increasing a film thickness from 600 nm to 850 nm, the overall transmission amplitude is increased as well as improving the minimum gap requirement from 40 nm to 600 nm. FIG. 10 presents features of wavelength, dielectric type and sizing in one non-limiting embodiment. In the embodiments shown, aspects of the disclose indicate that a square pillar shape is more desired than a square trench that is more desired than a circular pillar than is more desirable than a circular trench.

Through tests performed on various alterations of ideal and “as constructed” types of arrangements, testing indicates that rounding corners of square trenches can be compensated for by increasing a thickness of the dielectric film used in different embodiments. For embodiments where the “as constructed” arrangement has a residual top layer, minimal changes to phase change and amplitude of signal occur. Encapsulation material used for the top surface may impact the depth of trenches used. Lowering the refractive index of the encapsulation material, the lower the aspect ratio (h:d) and, hence, the more relaxed the fabrication constraints in terms of etching the nanostructures.

In the illustrated embodiments, from a manufacturing standpoint, square configurations are easier to produce than circle configurations, therefore squares are less expensive to produce than circles.

In the illustrated embodiments the arrangement described may have configurations that are smaller than 30 nanometers, thereby exceeding the resolution limit of conventional apparatus.

The flat optical devices are processed such that components are encapsulated. Such encapsulation allows for more durable devices that are more fit for intended purposes.

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for producing flat optical devices that is economical for large scale fabrication.

In one example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed comprising: providing a substrate; etching at least one trench in the substrate; placing a dielectric material in the at least one trench in the substrate; and encapsulating a top of the substrate with a film.

In another example embodiment, the method is provided wherein the substrate is made of silicon dioxide.

In another example embodiment, the method is provided wherein the placing the dielectric material in the at least one trench in the substrate is through a spinning process.

In another example embodiment, the method is provided wherein the encapsulating the top of the substrate with the film is through use of a SiO₂ film.

In another example embodiment, the method is provided wherein the placing the dielectric material in the at least one trench in the substrate includes providing an overfill dielectric layer.

In another example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure, comprising: providing a substrate, depositing a material on to a first face of the substrate, etching at least one trench in the material deposited on the first face of the substrate and encapsulating a top of the material deposited on the first face of the substrate with an encapsulating material.

In another example embodiment, the method may be performed wherein the substrate is made of SiO₂.

In another example embodiment, the method may be performed wherein the encapsulating material has a low refractive index and is a low k material.

In another example embodiment, an arrangement is disclosed, comprising a substrate with at least one trench, a spun material placed in the at least one nanotrench; and an encapsulating material placed in contact with the substrate and the spun material.

In another example embodiment, the spun material placed in the at least one trench further comprises an overfill layer.

In another example embodiment, the spun material placed in the at least one trench is titanium dioxide.

In another example embodiment, the substrate with the at least one trench is made of silicon dioxide.

In another example embodiment, the spun material is one of GaP, aSi, cSi and SiN.

In another example embodiment, a method for creating a flat optical structure is disclosed comprising: providing a silicon dioxide substrate with at least one flat surface; etching at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate; placing a dielectric material in the at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate and encapsulating the placed dielectric material in the at least one trench in the at least one flat surface of the silicon dioxide substrate with a film.

In another non-limiting embodiment, the method may be performed wherein the dielectric material is deposited through a spinning process.

In another non-limiting embodiment, the method may be performed wherein the material is GaP.

In another non-limiting embodiment, the method may be performed wherein the material is one of aSi and SiN.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present disclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A flat optical structure, comprising: a substrate with a first trench spaced from a second trench; a dielectric material in the first trench; and a film encapsulating a top of the substrate, the film having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the dielectric material; wherein lateral dimensions of the first and second trenches vary from a first magnitude to a second larger magnitude so that a normalized phase change of a selected light wavelength through the dielectric material is equal to one at the first magnitude of the lateral dimension and zero at the second magnitude of the lateral dimension.
 2. The flat optical structure of claim 1, wherein a width of the first trench is a maximum of one half a wavelength of operation of the flat optical structure.
 3. The flat optical structure of claim 2, wherein the substrate is made of silicon dioxide.
 4. The flat optical structure of claim 2, wherein the film contacts the substrate and the dielectric material.
 5. The flat optical structure of claim 2, wherein the film is a SiO₂ film.
 6. The flat optical structure of claim 2, further comprising an overfill dielectric layer of the dielectric material disposed over the top of the first and second trenches.
 7. The flat optical structure of claim 1, wherein: the substrate is made of a silicon dioxide; and the first and second trenches are etched into a flat surface of the substrate; and the film encapsulates the dielectric material in the first trench.
 8. The flat optical structure of claim 7, wherein the film includes one of titanium dioxide, GaP, aSi, cSi, or Si₃N₄.
 9. The flat optical structure of claim 8, wherein the film has a refractive index greater than 1.8 and an absorption coefficient less than 0.01.
 10. A flat optical structure, comprising: a substrate; a first material deposited onto a face of the substrate, the first material having a refractive index greater than a refractive index of the substrate; a trench etched into the first material, the trench delineating a pillar of the first material, the pillar including a square cross-sectional shape in a plan view; and a second material encapsulating each side and a top of the pillar.
 11. The flat optical structure of claim 10, wherein a width of the at least one trench is a maximum of one half a wavelength of operation of the flat optical structure.
 12. The flat optical structure of claim 11, wherein the substrate is made of SiO₂.
 13. The flat optical structure of claim 11, wherein the second material is SiO₂.
 14. The flat optical structure of claim 11, wherein the second material has a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the first material.
 15. A flat optical structure, comprising: a substrate with at least one trench; a material placed in the at least one trench; and an encapsulating material placed in contact with the substrate and the material.
 16. The flat optical structure of claim 15, wherein the material placed in the at least one trench further comprises an overfill layer.
 17. The flat optical structure of claim 15, wherein the material placed in the at least one trench is titanium dioxide.
 18. The flat optical structure of claim 15, wherein the substrate with at least one trench is made of silicon dioxide.
 19. The flat optical structure of claim 15, wherein the material is one of titanium dioxide, GaP, aSi, cSi, or Si₃N₄.
 20. The flat optical structure of claim 15, wherein the material has a refractive index greater than 1.8 and an absorption coefficient less than 0.01. 